I admit I'm an addictive plant book collector and just went to my shelves to see what I had on natives. What I found interesting is that I don't have any books specific to woodland natives, except for some that includes them and some that are about shade but not exclusive to natives. I have lots on prairie plants however. I really need to catalog my books someday - not during planting season though! In addition to the Diekelmann book, these are some of my native gardening books in no particular order: Gardening with Wildflowers and Native Plants published by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Record 1989. -a little book of collected articles, still relevant. Jones, Samuel B. and Foote, Leonard E. 1990. Gardening with Native Wild Flowers. Timber Press. 195 pgs. -My first native plant book, and still one of the best. Ladd, Doug and Oberle, Frank. 2005. Tallgrass Prairie Wildflowers. Morris Book Publishing. 263 pgs. -a very good field guide with excellent photos. Plants grouped by color. Johnson, Lorraine. 1998. Grow Wild!:Native Plant Gardening in Canada. Denise Schon Books. 154 pgs. -Lorraine Johnson is to Canada what Bill Cullina is to the US. A very useful book from coast to coast. Smith, J. Robert. 1980. The Prairie Garden: 70 Native Plants You Can Grow in Town or Country. University of Wisconsin Press. 219 pgs. -charts for habitat, color, and bloom times Wasowski, Sally. 2002. Gardening with Prairie Plants. University of Minnesota Press. 285 pgs. -I consider this the essential book for prairie gardens. Sternberg, Gus and Wilson, Jim. 1995. Landscaping with Native Trees. Chapters Publishing. 288 pgs. -Often we forget about planting native trees. Good info. Daniels, Stevie. 1995. The Wild Lawn Handbook: Alternatives to the Traditional Front Lawn. Macmillan. 223 pgs. -My first book on banning the bluegrass! Funny I live in Kentucky now. Also several local native plant guides and books on planting natives for wildlife habitat. And books on "natural" gardening that showcase natives but include some exotics, I'm thinking of the Druse books in particular. I'm going to have to pick up some of the books you have mentioned. And then get around to cataloging and organizing my library!

Gayle, I haven't found many books specific to Oklahoma, but then I am way down south in southern Oklahoma and we don't have a lot of bookstores here either. Two books I purchased from a bookstore in OKC in the late-1990s and used quite a bit were by Doyle McCoy and were published by University of Oklahoma Press in Norman, Oklahoma. They were: Roadside Trees and Shrubs of Oklahoma, and Roadside Wild Fruits of Oklahoma. They had copyright dates of 1981. I don't know if they are still available. Here's some other books I used. You will notice that many of them have the word 'Texas' in the title. They have been just as useful for me here in Oklahoma as they were when I lived in Texas since the prairie plants are virtuallly the same. They include: National Audubon Society Nature Guide: Grasslands by Lauren Brown, 1997, 3rd printing, Alfred A. Knopf Wildflowers of Texas, 1984, Shearer Publishing, Bryan, Texas The Grasses of Texas, 1975, F. W. Gould, Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas Texas Range Plants by S. J. Hatch and J. Pluhar, 1993, Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas Taylor's Guide to Natural Gardenimng, by R. Holmes, 1993, Houghton, Mifflin. Wildflower Handbook, The National Wildflower Research Center, Texas Monthly Press, Austin, Texas, 1989 A Field Guide to Texas Trees by Benny Simpson, 1989, Texas Monthly Press, Austin, Texas Texas Range Grasses by B. C. Tharp. Probably out of print. Mine is a very old edition from 1952. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas. Trees, Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southwest, 1960. Probably out of print. I got mine at a Half-Price Books Store in the D-FW area. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas. The following books are by Sally Wasowski and Andy Wasowski. They all related to landscaping with native plants. I love them. The Wasowskis may have more current books available also. Native Texas Plants, Landscaping Region by Region, 1989, Texas Monthly Press, Austin, Yexas Native Texas Gardens, 1997, Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas Landscaping Revolution: Garden With Mother Nature, Not Against Her, 2000, Lincolnwood Contemporary Books My FAVORITE native plant book is not a book. It is the Noble Foundation Website. In case you are not familiar with it, the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation is based in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and does amazing work with native Oklahoma plants and agricultural/horticultural issues. They usually have books available on their website too. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Noble Foundation Website, Grass ID Page

I've only just returned to this forum, robfearon, so there's a long delay between your post & my response. Sorry, but I hope you get this. You might want to try two books, both by the Australian Plant Study Group: Grow What Small Plant & Grow What Where. The first of these books contains lots of information about plants for courtyards, rockeries & garden beds so I guess pots would fit in there somewhere. The second of the books has a section on plants suitable for container plants & hanging baskets. One type of Australian plant which is often overlooked for small gardens & pots is creepers. There's a variety of these including Hardenbergia violacea Native Lilac. Other plants you might want to seek out for your pots are Epacris impressa Common Heath, Tetratheca pilosa Pink-eyed Susan, Dianella caerulea Poroo Lily or Flax Lily, Grevillea chrysophaea Golden Grevillea & Grevillea dimorpha Flame Grevillea. Hunting for these in native nurseries & on line can be fun if you're that way inclined. I hope you get this information.

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